RE “MONT. court halts rape resentencing” (Page A2, Sept. 7): A month in jail for a rapist whose victim killed herself? Montana District Judge G. Todd Baugh, demonstrating an utter lack of judgment, has forsaken every right to stay in his position even for another day.

Among the dangers we face as a society is our inability to stop an erring human instrument of rule and law, even when the evidence is glaring, even when the measure of ineptitude presents a danger to society.

Citing the lack of information from the state on minimum sentencing as a defensive justification for such an inexplicable sentencing decision does not mitigate Baugh’s lack of common sense and apparent lack of legal knowledge. Rather, it accentuates it. If anyone should know the law, it is a judge.

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Baugh undermined his credibility with a series of bad decisions until he fell into a sinkhole of his own creation. The testing ground for jurists’ competence should never be the public venue. Some measures need to be in place to ferret out the legal bunglers before injustice is served.